The Advent of the Lord

The season of Advent began with last night’s vespers, and today is the First Sunday of Advent. This is the first day of the new liturgical year, so happy Advent and happy new year! Behold, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, and His glory fills all the earth. (Magnificat Antiphon for I Vespers on the First Sunday of […]

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The First Thanksgiving

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Fifty-six years before the English Puritan refugees at Plymouth celebrated their “first Thanksgiving”, Spanish explorers and their Timucua allies celebrated one in Saint Augustine, in what is now Florida. They had bean soup. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral from Asturias. He was under orders to root out some French colonists in the area. […]

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Saint Cecilia and Singing the Mass

Saint Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs. Legend has it that she, her husband Valerian, and her brother-in-law Tiburtius were martyred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about AD 230. The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia (Stefano Maderno) Her name appears in the First Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon) among Rome’s other beloved […]

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Christus Vincit! Christus Regnat! Christus Imperat!

Today is the great feast of Christ the King. Later this afternoon, we will have our “Franksgiving” feast, as we normally have on this day. For the first time since the Plague descended, Pistachio House shall once again be transformed into a great feasting hall of the ancient of days. And it is right that we celebrate God’s bounty and […]

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Blessed Lucy of Narnia

Several years ago, The Catholic Herald published an article on one of today’s lesser known saints that absolutely delights me: Blessed Lucy of Narnia. Of all the great characters from children’s literature, who better to have a namesake to intercede for us in heaven? (At least, in the absence of a St Bofa of Sofa.) After all, it was she, […]

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Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning!

Appropriate to today – the Feast of All Souls of the Benedictine Order – we once again have the Dies Iræ, the traditional sequence for Requiem Masses and the Masses of All Souls. Today we pray for the souls of all Benedictine monks, nuns, sisters, and oblates in purgatory.   Servant of God Thomas of Celano Most probably written by […]

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Singing for the Dead: the Music of All Souls

Let’s talk Purgatory. We have to, to make any sense at all out of today’s feast. Today is officially “The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed”, but like most folks, I’ll stick with the simple version – All Souls’ Day. Given the day’s importance in the life of the Church, there’s a lot of history and liturgy – and Gregorian […]

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Reformation Day

Protestants all over the world celebrate “Reformation Day” on October 31. I don’t. In 2017, on the five hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s revolt, I wrote a lengthy essay on exactly why not, and I think it’s worth reprinting in its entirety. Five Hundred Years Today is the five hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. It is […]

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